Air Canada targets weight to save on fuel costs

October 7, 2005

ACE Aviation Holdings Inc unit Air Canada is aiming to trim flight weight to counter the spiraling cost of fuel, the airline said on Friday.

In a note to employees, Montie Brewer, president and chief executive of Air Canada, said the airline's "weight reduction team has targeted an improvement in fuel efficiency of 1.5 percent, worth C$45 million annually."

The airline, which is Canada's largest, has already increased its passenger and cargo fuel surcharges, and begun a fuel hedging strategy.

"We all need to remain extremely sensitive and vigilant as to how we utilize our fuel and conserve energy," Brewer said, without giving details of how the airline would cut weight.

Jet fuel prices have surged 54 percent in the third quarter from the year earlier period and are 21 percent above this year's second quarter, he added.

It costs Air Canada C$189 in fuel to fly one seat on a Boeing 767 between Toronto and London's Heathrow, and C$86 a seat on an Airbus A320 between Vancouver and Montreal, Brewer said.
ACE Aviation's restricted voting shares were off 40 Canadian cents at C$34.40 on the Toronto Stock Exchange on Friday.

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